tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52499422009-12-04T07:40:00.561-06:00<i>To say Noggle, one first must be able to say the "Nah." </i>Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.comBlogger5000125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-33813892814810527402009-12-04T07:40:00.000-06:002009-12-04T07:40:00.569-06:00

I'm reviewing these books out of order; I read this book when I went through a recent sci-fi set including Solaris and Lovelock. So apparently it was not only a sci-fi set, but also a single word title sci-fi set. This book centers on the return of a human rescued in space by the Haklh'hi. The young man was raised from infancy by the herd-like aliens. As they return him, they behave a little

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-9961191390951911312009-12-03T07:29:00.000-06:002009-12-03T07:30:16.233-06:00

This is a very early thriller from a very young (from the book jacket photo) Cornwell. Probably precedes his success with historical novels, but this very book could be a historical novel of sorts since it deals with a veteran of the Falkland Islands War. A disabled veteran, winner of the Victoria Cross, finds that his boat--the one thing he missed most--has been beached during his absence and

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-77441009239419200632009-12-02T14:43:00.002-06:002009-12-02T14:54:12.851-06:00

I received two Forbes subscription renewals in the mail the other day. The same day. With a $40 difference in a six month subscription rate. First, a congratulations on my recent move and an offer to renew at $59.95 for 26 issues: Click for full size In another envelope, an offer to renew at $19.95 for 26 issues: Click for full size As you know, I take a larger number of magazines

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-1318631651929685602009-12-01T08:48:00.000-06:002009-12-01T08:48:00.903-06:00

As an anonymous commentor said when I reviewed Ben Bova's book of the same name, the novel Millennium by John Varley, based on the short story "Air Raid" by the same, is better than the film Millennium, based on the short story "Air Raid" by John Varley. You know, he's right, but it's a strange odyssey from the short story to each. According to Wikipedia: We had the first meeting on Millennium

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-70916576987671276272009-11-30T16:10:00.002-06:002009-11-30T16:13:11.770-06:00

John Nolte, formerly of the northwest side like yours truly and now of Big Hollywood, agrees with my assessment of the forthcoming Brothers: The budget for ”Brothers,” per director Jim Sheridan, is $25 million, which probably doesn’t include marketing for promotion and … well, tell me again how Hollywood is driven by profit and not ideology? We’re a month away from 2010 so it’s hard to argue “

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-29295073953551724522009-11-29T08:18:00.004-06:002009-11-29T13:28:15.731-06:00

How does a couple not on the guest list bypass White House security to get into the premises to mingle with the President and all the President's men? However does one get through a tight net composed of the Secret Service, the military, and "You asked for miracles, Theo, I give you the FBI"? By being swarthy, communicating with terrorists, and arguing for Jihad when told they're not on the

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-22162926655879166862009-11-27T07:23:00.002-06:002009-11-27T07:25:59.517-06:00

Well, after reading Scipio Africanus: Greater than Napoleon, of course I picked up this book, a novel about Scipio's adversary which I'd picked up a while back. The book is an interesting combination of first person narrative with historical fact in that the battles are in the right order makes a pretty compelling read. We get bits from Hannibal's childhood as the son of Hamilcar Barca and his

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-78201862600784319452009-11-25T06:38:00.002-06:002009-11-25T06:45:39.017-06:00

Lileks finds a value proposition in printed magazines versus online versions: Some of the happiest moments of my life consisted simply of sitting in an airplane reading the Economist, lost in the big thick glossy parade of news and stories from everywhere, assembled with skill, and presented without a slime trail of ignorant comments at the end. Another, of course, is that they lack

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-54316075354881740122009-11-22T19:22:00.001-06:002009-11-22T19:22:25.515-06:00

I liked this book. It involved a lot of aspects of home buying, moving, and whatnot with which I've recently been reacquainted. Also, it's old school Dave Barry, written when he was young, married to his first wife, and before he became a brand. You know how you can tell? Is his name above the title or below it? There you go. As Amazon shows below, this book was later rebadged with his name

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-32678175744454619302009-11-21T08:31:00.000-06:002009-11-21T08:31:00.492-06:00

I enjoyed Yakov Smirnoff's humor back in the old days (those 1980s again) when his America vs. the USSR and incredulous immigrant schtick brought a unique perspective to being an American. This book recreates a bunch of those moments, and since I can remember what that was like, I can still laugh with it. Since I'm seeing the USA of today turn into that USSR of his humor, it's not humor without

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-22687780280719900942009-11-21T07:29:00.002-06:002009-11-21T07:36:53.333-06:00

It didn't sound like the sort of film I'd see since I'm not dating/married to a girl who would want to see it, but this review of the film Amreeka doesn't make it sound like it delivers warm and fuzzies to people of a certain mindset: The two arrive at the Illinois home of her sister Raghda (Hiam Abbass of "The Visitor") shortly after the start of the war in Iraq, as anti-Arab paranoia runs high

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-78867865768300309952009-11-20T15:03:00.001-06:002009-11-20T15:03:28.075-06:00

This isn't the book for the Kris Kristofferson film of the same name or for the Lance Henrikson television show of the same name. Instead, it's a book written in 1996 about the state of the world and a close call for a nuclear war between the United States and the USSR except for a lunar rebellion that takes control of the warring sides' incomplete ABM satellite networks. It's a pretty good

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-22203673031618282009-11-19T20:23:00.001-06:002009-11-19T20:25:12.784-06:00

When I read the selected works of Cicero earlier this year, Cicero kept telling me about the Roman age of heroes and of Scipio. So when my beautiful wife and I were killing some time in Patten Books a couple months back, I found this volume for $6. That alone should tell you how far gone I am into my current Roman history sort of phase (for me, 4 books in a couple of months is a pretty

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-49935571010267231262009-11-18T08:12:00.000-06:002009-11-18T08:12:00.044-06:00

I read this book pretty soon after Missouri Deathwatch, so it posed stark relief. The professional wordsmith who cranked out this entry kept it pretty fresh and quick moving. In this book, Nick Carter goes against AXE itself when a Soviet spymaster comes to town and shoots Nick. In the hospital, another attempt is made on Nick after his boss visits. Why does AXE want the Killmaster dead?

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-78621093592481035102009-11-17T20:28:00.001-06:002009-11-17T20:28:29.200-06:00

At first, I thought this book was going to be a mash-up between a pulp paperback thriller and a romance novel. The cover looks violent. The back mentions the title character was trained in a mercenary camp. The first chapter features her infiltrating rebel-held territory for the second night to make a deal with a rebel leader and ends up in a mixed martial arts fight with a couple of

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-38129592654737935332009-11-17T06:36:00.002-06:002009-11-17T06:42:52.054-06:00

Sotomayor is not a reactionary ogre like Scalia or Roberts. She's a glamorous celebrity! Apparently, no one told Sonia Sotomayor that Supreme Court justices are supposed to be circumspect, emerging from their marble palace mainly to dispense legal wisdom to law schools, judges’ conferences and lawyers’ meetings. Since becoming the first Hispanic justice, Sotomayor has mamboed with movie stars,

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-91468962399451429442009-11-13T08:08:00.000-06:002009-11-13T08:08:00.238-06:00

After a couple years of watching the game religiously, I think I have enough insight into how it works to talk football. Okay, I don't have enough insight into the muscle memory mechanics of it to instruct how to block or how to turn the hips to fool a cornerback, but enough to talk it. As such, this book is really just a little refresher course on it except for the biographies of great past

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-6024420407892156052009-11-12T07:06:00.003-06:002009-11-12T14:43:26.458-06:00

I was treated to this trailer on Veteran's Day when I treated my wife to what turned out to be an anti-Iraq War film Men Who Stare At Goats: You know, it could have been a good drama. Soldier dies in combat, and his ne'er-do-well brother straightens out and grows up as he sort of steps into the role of father-figure for his nieces and eventually the lover for the widow. Then, the MIA

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-54378849710684811232009-11-10T08:17:00.000-06:002009-11-10T08:17:00.334-06:00

My goodness, if you've ever wanted to read a book composed of 88% bullet points, look no further. I'd hoped this book would be a thoughtful exploration of things Americans believe, but this is no Jan Harold Brunvand book. The authors have modeled it upon a book by H.L. Mencken from the 1920s. It lists, sorted by chapter, a variety of things they say Americans believe ca. 1983. A few of the

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-30272337142034721932009-11-09T08:04:00.000-06:002009-11-09T08:04:00.171-06:00

This book follows the story of the sons of a tribal chief in prehistoric England. The oldest brother is banished; the lame brother hides in the old temples and gets visions. The protagonist middle brother falls in love and gets his tribal scars of manhood. The oldest brother returns and slays the father, assuming tribal leadership and selling the middle brother as a slave. The middle

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-6417482629240752112009-11-08T08:06:00.000-06:002009-11-08T08:06:00.359-06:00

This book was sold by Doubleday Science Fiction, but really it's a mystery set at a science fiction convention. The book is thus very reminiscient of Murder at the ABA. In it, a professor who has written some science fiction becomes embroiled in a series of murders that seem to revolve around a rare science fiction pulp magazine. Not a bad read, ultimately. It's an old science fiction book,

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-71265297204586510592009-11-07T19:59:00.001-06:002009-11-07T19:59:43.142-06:00

Another Star Trek book "by" William Shatner (see also Star Trek: The Return). This one is the middle of a trilogy, so I'm in a world of challenge already. I've missed much of the set-up and back story, and brother, that book must have taken plenty. Not only do we have nods to all of the Star Trek series to that time (even Voyager), but the book deals with the universe from the "Mirror, Mirror"

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-35995095780418301292009-11-07T19:40:00.000-06:002009-11-07T19:41:01.127-06:00

Now this is premium 80s pulp fiction. The bad guys are obvious, and everyone aside from a few academics and maybe Teddy Kennedy agreed the Soviets were the bad guys. In this book, the mercenary band Soldiers of Barrabas (SOBs, you see) go into Siberia to rescue a dissident scientist. The book deals with the way which the team gets into Russia--through a phony computer deal that lands them in a

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-20149770831453217742009-11-06T15:15:00.001-06:002009-11-06T15:17:01.949-06:00

As you might recollect, this book was made into two films. One was made in the Eastern bloc the year I was born; the other starred George Clooney and was made in 2002. I haven't seen either, but I remember it was a big deal because it represented something of the pinnacle of Eastern European science fiction. The result is a mixture of Event Horizon, The Forge of God, and The Unbearable

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-60763771227268034642009-10-27T08:35:00.000-05:002009-10-27T08:35:00.342-05:00

I found this book at my first book fair in the Springfield area. The Friends of the Christian County Library book sale was laden with series pulp like The Executioner, so how could I not grab one entitled Missouri Deathwatch and set in St. Louis. Sort of. Aside from the title and the character mentioning that the action takes place in St. Louis, there's no real sense of place. Descriptions of

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0